Construction of brushes



April 24, 1962 M. M. KARLAN ETAL CONSTRUCTION OF BRUSHES Filed Jan. 27, 1960 INVENTORS. MAP Tl/V M. K ARI. AN BY C 0.5 IMO PERRUCC/ A TTQE/v' rs 3,030,649 CONSTRUCTIGN F BRUSHES Martin M. Karlan, 11 Aberfoyle Road, New Rochelle, N.Y., and Cosimo Perrucci, 215 N. Ridge St., Port Chester, N.Y.

Filed Ian. 27, 1960, Ser. No. 4,993 8 Claims. (Cl. 15-193) The present invention is directed to brushes and more particularly to paint brushes and to an improved construction thereof.

In the past, brushes have been made by providing a ferrule, within which one end of a bundle of bristles was inserted and a plastic material in liquid form was poured into the ferrule and hardened to hold the bristles together and to anchor the same in the ferrule. A handle was inserted in the other end of the ferrule and suitably anchored as by nails passing through the ferrule and into the handle.

Such a construction had the disadvantage that the plastic material in hardening tended to pull away from the ferrule, thus loosening the bristles and sometimes causing the bundle to fall out of the ferrule. To overcome this, there was provided an insert of relatively thin metal which was U-shaped in cross-section. The base of the insert was perforated and the plastic material penetrated through the perforations and anchored the bristles to the insert. While this construction was superior to the older, the anchorage was uncertain. Also, when the handle was inserted, it often caught on the edge of the insert, which was bent, interfering with the introduction of the handle. Since the handle was anchored by means of nails or pegs passing through the metal parts, the additional thickness of metal made it diflicult and uncertain in the fixing of the handle, especially when this was accomplished by machines.

In an attempt to overcome this difiiculty, the insert was made of a thin metal such as aluminum. However, bending thereof by accidental handling interfered with introduction of the handle. Certain other disadvantages were inherent in such structures in that it often happened that the upper ends of the legs of the insert extended beyond the edge of the ferrule, giving an unsightly appearance and presenting a sharp end which was capable of injuring the hands. If the ends of the legs were too short, then in some cases the nail or peg did not pass through the insert and the brush was not firmly secured to the handle.

The present invention is intended and adapted to overcome the difliculties and disadvantages inherent in prior brushes, it being among the objects thereof to provide a structure of a brush which provides a positive seating of the insert, a firm anchorage thereof and an assurance against the possibility of a tilting of the insert.

It is also among the objects of the present invention to provide a brush structure wherein the introduction of the insert is facilitated, wherein there is no interference with the nailing or pegging of the handle and wherein the assembly of the several elements to form the brush is facilitated.

It is further among the objects of the present invention to provide an insert of such construction that a single size thereof is capable of being introduced into several sizes of brushes, which avoids the use of soft or expensive metals for the insert, and which is economical to manufacture.

In practicing the present invention, there is provided the usual ferrule with the usual bundle of bristles and the hardenable plastic material. There is further provided an insert which is U-shaped and has a plurality of perforations in the base thereof, as previously. However,

3,030,649 Patented Apr. 24, 1962 the legs of the insert are novel in their structures. The upper ends of the legs are bent over outwardly to form opposing lips, said lips being close to and substantially parallel with the legs of the U. The depth of the lips is relatively small and they are intended to embrace one of the ends of the ferrule. Thereby when the insert is introduced into the ferrule, it is firmly anchored along the edges thereof and when the handle is inserted therein, the pressure exerted in so doing will insure the firm seating of the insert.

The insert of the present invention is also provided with one or more openings in the legs thereof, said openings being adjacent to the upper ends of the legs and being so located that upon the nailing of the handle into the ferrule, the nail or peg will pass through the opening and thus there would be no interference with the fixing of the handle. While the openings may be of various shapes and sizes and locations, it is preferred to have the openings in the form of slots, the longitudinal axis of which is parallel to the upper edges of the ferrule. Preferably two or more such elongated openings or slots are formed with their axes in alinement.

The invention is more fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters indicate like parts, and in which FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a brush made in accordance with the present invention, some parts being broken away for clearness;

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view thereof taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the insert which constitutes the principal novel feature of the invention.

There is provided the ordinary ferrule 1, open at both ends and having beads 2 and 2' on opposite sides thereof, said beads usually continuing around the entire periphery of the ferrule.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, the insert consists of a U-shaped thin metal sheet 3. The upper edges of the legs of the insert are folded over as shown at 5 to form lips. On each of the legs and near the lips 5 is a pair of elongated slots 6, the axes of which are in alinement and transverse to the longitudinal axis of the completed brush. The base is provided with a plurality of holes 7 for the reception of a hardenable plastic material. Insert 3 is placed within ferrule 1 with lips 5 embracing edges 8 of the ferrule. A bundle of bristles 9 is inserted into the ferrule, the inner ends of the bristles making contact with the outside of the base of insert 3. A hardenable plastic 16 is poured into insert 3, penetrating through holes "7 and into heads 2 and 2'. After hardening, the bristles are firmly held within the ferrule and the insert is also similarly held.

Handle 11 usually of wood, is inserted into the opposite end of the ferrule so that the portion 12 thereof is located within insert 3. Pegs 13 are forced through the metal of ferrule 1 through slots 6 and into end 12 of the handle. Any suitable number of such pegs may be used in order to firmly secure the handle to the ferrule.

Numerous advantages are inherent in the present invention. The openings in the legs of the insert facilitate driving in the pegs or nails as it is much easier to drive through one thickness of metal than two, particularly when a machine is used for this purpose. Lips on the legs embracing the edge of the ferrule provide a positive grip of the insert, thus eliminating the danger of loosening the bundle of bristles. The lips insure that in the assembling the insert will rest squarely in relation to the ends of the bristles, thus producing a better brush.

Also, the folded over ends or lips eliminate the chance that during the insertion of the handle, it will catch on and bend the insert. Since this danger is absent, there results a greater speed of assembly of brushes and less defective brushes, which is valuable in hand assembly and even more valuable in machine assembly of brushes.

The lips avoid the accidental sticking out of unsightly edges of legs beyond the point where the edge of the ferrule meets the handle, thus enhancing the appearance of the brush, They also stifien the ferrule so that in somefcases thinner meta-l may be used or a stiffening bead be eliminated. The visible lips are a physical indication that an insert has been used in the construction of the brush, so that the purchaser can be certain that the brush he is buying contains an insert and is of superior quality. By the provision of the openings so that the pegs or nails do not penetrate the metal of the insert, it is not necessary to use a soft, or a relatively expensive metal, and a stronger and cheaper metal may be used, such as tin plated steel, thus offering economy to the user. The insert cannot be pushed in too far into the ferrule.

Although the invention has'be'en described setting forth a single specific embodiment thereof, the invention is not to be limited thereto as various changes may be made within the spirit thereof. For instance, the shape of the legs need not be rectangular but they may be of any other suitable shape. There may be cutout portions along the sides or top of the legs serving as openings through which the pegs pass. Although the entire top edges of the legs have been described as folded over,

tially parallel legs, the latter contacting the inner face of said sides, the outer end of at least one of said legs being bent outwardly of said U to a position offset from said legs to form a lip embracing the outer edge of said ferrule, a set of bristles having one end within the opposite edge of said ferrule, a plastic composition uniting said end of said bristles and said base, a handle one end of which fits within said one edge of said ferrule and within said insert, and at least one peg passing through said ferrule into said handle.

2. A brush comprising a hollow ferrule with flattened sides, an insert therein having a substantially U-shaped V cross-section and having a perforated base and substantially parallel legs, the latter contacting the inner face of said sides, the outer end of at leastrone of said legs being bent outwardly of said U to a position offset from said legs to form a lip embracing the outer edge of said I ferrule, a set of bristles having one end within the opone or more portions thereof may be folded, or one or 7 more projections thereon may be folded over to form relatively narrow lips. The pegs may be fasteners of various types, such as nails, screws, pins, dowels and the like. The insert may be of any suitable metal or even of synthetic plastic of adequate strength. The shape and size of both the ferrule and insert may be varied at will. Holes 7 may be of any size and number desired. The handles need not contact the plastic, and the depth of the plastic may be less than shown on FIG. 2.

These and other Variations in the details of the struct-ure may be made without departing from the principles set forth herein, and the invention is to be broadly construed and to be limited only by the claims appended hereto.

We claim:

1. A brush comprising a hollow ferrule with flattened sides, an insert therein having a substantially U-shaped cross-section and having a perforated base and substanposite edge of said ferrule, a plastic composition uniting said end of said bristles and said base, at least one of said legs having at least one opening, a handle one end of which fits within said one edge of said ferrule and within said insert, and at least one peg passing through said ferrule and opening and into said handle.

3. A brush according to claim 1 in which the outer end of both of said legs are bent and embrace both sides of said ferrule.

4. A brush according to claim 2 in which said opening is adjacent said outer end of said leg.

5. A brush according to claim 2 in which at least one said opening is in each of said legs.

6. A brush according to claim 2 in which said opening is a slot, the principal axis of which is substantially parallel to the edges of said ferrule.

7. A brush according to claim 6 in which a pair of slots are provided in end to end alinement in at least one of said legs.

8. A brush according to claim 7 in which at least two of said slots are provided in each of said legs.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,147,310 Morrison Feb. 14, 1939 2, 16,870 Jacob et a1. Apr. 20, 1943 2,508,931 Simms May 23, 1950 2,641,014 Sauter et al June 9, 1953 

